Onana's Second Loan: Why Man Utd Can't Afford to Keep Him

It has been confirmed — André Onana is heading back to Trabzonspor for a second consecutive loan. Fabrizio Romano rubber-stamped it, the verbal agreement is done, and the paperwork is in motion. For a player who arrived at Old Trafford in 2023 billed as one of the world's best goalkeepers, this is a story of spectacular institutional failure. Not just Onana's. Manchester United's.

The numbers told the story long before the loan was announced. United paid an initial £43.8 million to prise Onana away from Inter Milan, where he had just starred in the Nerazzurri's run to the Champions League final. Former United football director John Murtough declared him "one of the world's best goalkeepers." The expectation was dynasty. What followed was dysfunction.

A catalogue of high-profile errors culminated in a Carabao Cup defeat to League Two Grimsby Town in August 2025 — a match in which Onana gifted the lower-league side their second goal and United exited on penalties. It was, symbolically, his last game for the club. Within weeks, United had signed 23-year-old Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp for £18.1 million and Onana was on a plane to Trabzon, his wages covered entirely by the Turkish club.

Onana at Trabzonspor 2025-26

There is something almost poignant about these numbers. Onana has been genuinely decent in Turkey — a regular starter, a trophy winner, a fan favourite at the Papara Park. The problem was never his quality in isolation. As Edwin van der Sar noted, the goalkeeper possesses "tremendous qualities" in terms of reflexes and footwork, but carries "the odd mistake in him" that makes it impossible for a back four to settle. At United, that instability was fatal. In Trabzon, away from the pressure of Old Trafford, the demons have been quieter.

Here is where the story gets genuinely painful for United's hierarchy. Onana is contracted until 2028. His wages dropped from £170,000 per week to £120,000 per week after United missed European competition for 2025-26. But United's third-place finish under Michael Carrick — and their subsequent return to the Champions League — has triggered a contractual clause that pushes his salary back toward its original level. A player who isn't in Carrick's plans is about to receive a pay rise.

This is not a new problem at Old Trafford. It is the post-Ferguson structural rot in its purest form: big money, poor planning, and contracts written for a version of reality that never materialised. Onana's market value has collapsed to around €12 million — a staggering depreciation from the £47.2 million United spent. No club in Europe will touch him at his wage level.

So the second loan to Trabzonspor — this time with the Turkish club paying a loan fee to United — is not a solution. It is a deferral. United keep the wage problem off the books for another year while Trabzonspor get a goalkeeper who helped them win a Turkish Cup. Both parties get something. Neither gets what they actually want.

Michael Carrick's transformation of this squad since January 2026 has been remarkable — 12 wins in 17 league games, a third-place finish secured, Champions League football confirmed. Lammens, the 23-year-old Belgian sweeper-keeper signed for just £18.1 million, was voted the Premier League's Transfer of the Season. His calm authority, his ability to play short from the back under pressure, his 64 saves across the campaign — these are the qualities Carrick is building around.

Onana's representatives were told in May that even if he returned to Carrington, he would not be part of the first-team picture. His extrovert personality and eye-watering salary make him an impossible fit as a backup. You cannot park a £120,000-a-week goalkeeper on the bench and expect harmony.

The second loan, then, is the most logical of illogical outcomes. United cannot sell him at fair value. They cannot integrate him. They cannot release him without eating the remaining two years of his contract. So they send him back to Turkey, the one place he still feels wanted, buy themselves another twelve months, and hope the market shifts or Onana accepts a dramatic pay cut to move permanently.

For now, the Black Sea city of Trabzon holds the answer to one of English football's most expensive unsolved problems.

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